Moon Elf
The First House stayed in the Elder Wood. The light of the Three Watchers, Ola, Shoral, and Sorin, guided them and provided the light they needed to be the Father's Guardians of the Night. And they were the Eldahuan. - Ulatra Marai Random Starting Ages Age Categories Random Height and Weight Appearance A moon elf's build is similar to a normal elf, sleek but taller than humans, sharp features and pointed ears. However, there are some minor differences. Their ears tend to be slightly longer, with the points ending near, or slightly above the tops of their heads. The features overall are a lot closer to other fey than elves are. Their skin, eyes, and hair take on a different appearance altogether. Both their hair and skin are normally of a cold color, blues, greens, and purples of all shades. Deep reds, while uncommon, do occur as well. Their eyes are found in these colors as well, but other basic colors can be found as well such as yellow, orange, and white. Their eyes have no iris or pupil and give off a faint, yet visible glow. This glow is not normally bright enough to alert their prey while hiding at night, but it is bright enough to be able to see them in darkness at a close range easier than normal. A moon elf commonly covers itself with many tattoos. Society & Culture Society The moon elf commonly covers itself with tribal-like tattoos telling a story of his life. All moon elves are tattooed at birth in a manner detailing the story. A soft easy birth has a round or smooth shape to it, while a difficult birth, and even one ending in the mother's death (although uncommon) is shown with jagged edges and sharp details. So too are other events in the moon elf's life depicted. When a moon elf reaches old age and finally dies, it is desired to be completely covered in tattoos. Such a thing is seen as a fully lived life with little or even no regret. Moon elves are nocturnal beings, seeing the moons as the true light of the world. The sun, while also a necessary entity, also causes pain and burns those who stay under its light for too long. The moons and their light will never cause such pain. So much is their belief that creatures that are also nocturnal are thought of as "true creatures." Powerful night animals such as cats and owls are revered by the moon elves and are commonly depicted in their architecture. Moon elves were the first and most ancient race of elves on Galea. They view themselves with high regard compared to other elves. They consider themselves to be the guardians of the night, while they humans, the other first race, are the guardians of day. Moon elf society is quite different than other elves. Moon elves have advanced technologically far more than other races. They attempt to combine science with magic, with sometimes amazing results. Some moon elves live in massive cities built anywhere they could possibly build a city, while some prefer to live with their fellow ancient race, the humans, in their cities. While moon elves descended directly from fey, and have many of the same traits, their society has advanced beyond that. Some moon elves, however, prefer the simple life to that of extravagance. These simple moon elves live in small tribes in forests near larger moon elf civilizations. Religion There are two religions among the moon elves. Science and the advancement of the race, and the "old ways." Moon elves that follow the scientific side favor one deity, Balthazar. He is the god of advancement, craft, and knowledge. He guides the moon elves to greater heights than other races, showing them their true purpose of technological domination. Those that follow the "old ways" favor the three gods of the moons. They believe that the moons give off true light, and the sun, while it helps nature grow, causes too much harm at times and is seen as a double edged sword. The moons, however, never cause harm, and can only be used as a guiding light. The three are called the Lunar Trinity, and each deity has its own sphere of influence in a moon elf's life. Ola is the goddess of the blue moon and her sphere is water and the oceans which all life needs. Sorin is the god of the green moon and his sphere is nature. Shoral is the god of pleasure and the red moon. Nocturnal animals are seen as greater creatures. With the two different ideologies, moon elves come in two alignments. The more common followers of Balthazar favor the concept of science and the magical arts together as one. They see the benefit in a structured analytical life, as well as freedom and creativity. These moon elves are normally neutral good. A much small group of moon elves exist that is the traditionalists of the old ways and follow the Lunar Trinity, These moon elves have a general caring for all living things, and believe that life should not be restricted. They are typically chaotic good. Regardless of their core belief, all moon elves, whether modern or traditionalists, revere and respect the other deities. One cannot deny them and their impact simply because of minor disagreements. This is so true, that even in major moon elf cities where Balthazar is revered, the Lunar trinity still has temples and are important figure heads to the city moon elves. Relations Moon elves do not hold any ill regard towards other races just because the majority of them live under the sun. They do, however, believe that other elves have fallen away from the "true light" of the moons. Humans are an exception to the rule. Humans are viewed as the "other first race." They see them as the guardians of the light, and frequently live among human cities. Humans feel a strange connection to moon elves, but the majority of them have forgotten their purpose (as moon elves would say), and do not understand why. There are a large amount of half-moon elves, second only to blood elves. Some believe all other elves to be descendants of early moon elf and human offspring, however there is no evidence to back this up. Adventurers Moon elves have an adventurous spirit. It is normal for a young moon elf to leave the home to see the world, especially those that grow up in human cities. Racial Traits *'+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Constitution:' Moon elves are nimble, both in mind and body, but their form is frail. *'Medium:' Moon elves are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size. *'Fast Speed:' Moon elves have a base speed of 40 feet. *'Improved Low-Light Vision:' Moon elves can see three times as far as humans in conditions of dim light. *'Darkvision:' Moon elves can see in the dark up to 120 feet. *'Scent:' Moon elves have scent. *'Moon Magic: '''Moon elves gain a +1 caster level during the night while outdoors. *'Keen Senses:' Moon elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception Skill checks. *'Light Blindness: Moon elves are dazzled as long as they remain in an area of bright light. *'''Glowing Eyes: Due to the light glow of a moon elf's eyes, they may never benefit from total concealment due to natural darkness within 30'. In cases when they would receive it, they instead have concealment. Concealment is unchanged. *'Weapon Familiarity: '''Moon elves are proficient with longbows, shortbows (including composite bows of each type), longswords and rapiers, and treat any weapon with the word "elven" in its name as a martial weapons. *'Languages:' Moon elves begin play speaking Ultramarian and Huanthi. Moon elves with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: All elven sublanguages, Celestial, Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan. Alternative Racial Traits * '''Zyboc Born:' Moon Elves with this racial trait lose Darkvision and Scent but gain an innate understanding of Technology. They gain a +4 bonus on Craft (Mechanical) and Knowledge Engineering checks. *'''Moonshadow Born: '''Moon Elves with this racial trait lose Improved Low-light Vision and Scent but gain the ability to Shadowmeld. When a Moon elf is outside under moonlight of Ola they gain concealment, or when under the full moon of Ola they gain total concealment (this supercedes the Glowing Eyes drawback). However if the black moon is out in full, Moonshadow born suffer a -5 penalty to stealth checks as their eyes glow much brighter than normal.